ABSTRACT
The "Velvet Divorce" of Czechoslovakia that paved the way for two distinct nation-states and for their comparatively swift integration into the European Union (EU) tells a story other than that of "multiple national identities" being the "Via Regna" to European integration. The necessity of such a perspective seems even more imperative as historical experiences of nation building are considered by the editor Gerhard Mangott as a prerequisite for the limited success or partial failure in the construction of national identity which have been observed. Furthermore, the concept of a Central European "crossroads" has been used in the opposite sense: as an argument for EU enlargement, indicating an enrichment of the Union, as well as a bridging factor to Eastern Europe. The argument about the obstacles to the development of fully fledged national identities—though for different reasons—which is applied to all three states analyzed in the collection focuses on the tensions between a "Western" and an "Eastern" orientation.
